Doris Regina Chavers

For nearly thirty years, she was known only as Jane Doe 1991, a collection of skeletal remains found in a wooded area of Volusia County, Florida. But thanks to advances in DNA technology and the persistence of investigators, she was finally given her name back: Doris Regina Chavers. A mother and daughter, she was 32 years old when she vanished, leaving behind a family who never stopped wondering what had become of her.

Doris was last seen by her family in August 1989 at her mother's home in Sanford, Florida. For a year, her absence was a painful question mark. On August 1, 1990, her family officially reported her missing to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, launching a search that would span decades. Her daughter always believed that something terrible must have happened, feeling strongly that her mother would never have simply abandoned her.

A year after the missing person report was filed, on August 19, 1991, two fishermen made a grim discovery in a heavily wooded area off the 400 block of Enterprise Osteen Road in Osteen. They found skeletal remains that, due to their condition and the limits of forensic technology at the time, could not be identified. An autopsy performed in September 1991 determined the remains belonged to a female, likely in her 30s or 40s. The examination also revealed she had died from violent trauma, and her death was officially ruled a homicide. For years, investigators with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office pursued leads and entered the case into FBI databases, but every effort to identify Jane Doe 1991 was unsuccessful, and the case grew cold.

The first major breakthrough came in August 2018, when detectives with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, reinvestigating the original missing person case, were able to locate Doris Chavers' biological daughter. They obtained a familial DNA sample from her and submitted it to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification (UNTCHI) for analysis. The wait for an answer would last another year and a half.

On January 21, 2020, detectives in both Volusia and Seminole counties received the news they had been waiting for. UNTCHI confirmed that the DNA from the daughter was a match to the skeletal remains found in Osteen back in 1991. After 29 years, Jane Doe finally had a name. Volusia detectives contacted Doris's daughter to deliver the news. While heartbreaking, the confirmation brought a small measure of peace. She expressed relief at finally having some sense of closure after decades of uncertainty.

With her identification, the focus of the investigation shifted from identifying a victim to finding a killer. As of April 2020, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the homicide investigation into the death of Doris Regina Chavers is active and ongoing. Sheriff Mike Chitwood stated, “I hope this sends a message that we never ever stop working on homicide cases. We keep working them until the science comes along that may give the victims’ families closure.” Investigators hope that with the victim's identity now public, new leads may emerge from people who knew Doris in the late 1980s.

No suspects have been named, and no arrests have been made. The case remains a painful open wound for her loved ones. Detectives continue to seek information from anyone who might have known Doris or have any knowledge of her disappearance and death. The Volusia Sheriff’s Office Major Case Unit is urging anyone with information to contact them at 386-254-1537. Additionally, Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida offers a reward of up to $1,000 for anonymous tips leading to an arrest, and they can be reached at (888) 277-TIPS.